The town’s musuem is gearing up for the start of its new season on Easter Monday.

Hinckley and District Museum is set to open its doors at 10am on Easter Monday.

A wonderful new thatch to the building heralds a season of new exhibits in the museum, reflecting the town and district’s involvement in national affairs as well as a look back at how ordinary lives were spent in years gone by.

Museum chairman Andy Pratt said: “We have been working terrifically hard during the closed season to deliver a set of exhibits worthy of the high standards of last year’s First World War exhibition.

“We are confident that we have achieved this and that people will once again find something entirely new and will go away and be inspired about the place where we live.”

The museum has retained its display on the Hansom Cab - the three-quarter sized Hansom built by students at Redmoor Academy.

The display was very well received in 2014 and is a chance to acquaint themselves with Hinckley’s great claim to fame.

Displays are also retained on the Tin Hat and Richard III. The museum has a small gift shop to suit every pocket as well as a Victorian tearoom.

The garden is being re-turfed following the major work on the thatch and is set to look a treat for the season.

The wash day events are set to continue in August and a Roman weekend is planned for later in the season.

Mr Pratt said: “I cannot wait for opening day.

“I believe we have done it again and provided new and vibrant displays worthy of the history and the people of the town.

“I encourage anyone who has visited the museum before to come again with a friend and to those who have never been in the museum before, I say there is no better time than the present - come along and be inspired.”

The museum is open every weekend until the end of October and every bank Holiday. Admission is £1 for adults and 25p for children. Opening times are Saturdays 10am to 4.30pm and Sundays 2pm until 5pm.

“Flash!, Bang!! Wallop!!!”

The main exhibition room in the museum will be given over to old photographs of Hinckley and District supplemented with artefacts reflecting the photos. Old photographs of the area are now very popular with many people taking an interest in seeing or collecting them.

The museum has a vast collection of old photographs and those on display have never been seen in public display before. These will be augmented by photographs from private collections. The photographs have been arranged into themed areas: ordinary lives, sport and leisure, the world of work, rural life etc. There is a major collaboration with Hinckley District Past and Present who will be showing pictures of iconic buildings in the town, past and present.

A major part of this exhibition is a project called My Album. The museum is encouraging people with old photographs of the area in their family collections to come in and have their photos scanned.

Copyright will remain with the owners but the aim is to build an archive of material that can be used for a fundraising book in 2016, called after the title of the project. The funds will go into the museum building fund, with the aim of significantly enhancing the museum facility.

Museum chairman Andy Pratt said: “This should be an eye-catching and thought provoking display - people will recognise their own lives reflected in our photographic display. The prospect of a new book next year capturing previously unseen photos is an exciting one.”

Hinckley’s man of letters - John Nicholls, Leicestershire historian

John Nicholls, of Islington in London, was the pre-eminent figure in the British book and publishing trade in the 18th century.

His connection to Hinckley is being celebrated, 270 years after his birth. He married a Hinckley girl, Martha Green, in 1778, and he wrote the first history of the town - History and Antiquities of Hinckley in 1782. His biggest work by far was the equivalent history of Leicestershire which was printed in 1815 - 200 years ago.

He said: “Nicholls relied on fiends in Hinckley like John Robinson the antiquarian to pass on material to him. His work has mistakes but it places him in the prime position of the line of historians of the town. We felt it really important to mark this anniversary.”

Heavens above!

It is now 50 years since the Barwell meteorite shattered its way through the earth’s atmosphere to make landfall in Barwell on Christmas Eve 1965.

The museum will be commemorating this important date with pieces of the meteorite never before seen in public. It remains the largest meteorite ever to land in this country and with the speed of the projectiles coming down it Barwell it is incredible that there were no casualties.

The meteorite is as old as planet Earth - 450 billion years.

Historian Greg Drozdz said: “This is definitely the oldest artefact we have ever had in the museum. At the time it attracted mass media coverage and an errant Sir Patrick Moore was on the scene immediately to see what he could find. He proudly displayed a large chunk of the meteorite in his home until the day he died.”

Waterloo 200

The museum has given space to local historian Paul Seaton of Earl Shilton, who has uncovered local connections with the great battle of June 18 1815.

Paul’s search for his own family history uncovered previously unknown names of local men from Hinckley, Wykin and Earl Shilton who took part in the famous battle, some of them bearing painful battle wounds and scars. Museum chairman Andy Pratt said: “After Paul’s most excellent talk to the museum group it was a short step towards staging this exhibition. I was absolutely fascinated by the information uncovered by Paul and his colleagues and now that can be shared with a wider audience”.

Gas and Gallipoli

The year 1915 was a critical year for the Allies. Following from the highly successful and universally commended display during the 2014 season, the museum will be looking at the area’s participation in the days of the advent and deployment of chemical weapons and the failed campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Greg Drozdz has amassed material with local connections with these events that has never been seen before in public.

Museum chairman Andy Pratt said: “We will be having a display on the First World War right through to 2018. We are reflecting the events of 100 years ago in material donated to the museum.

“Last year’s exhibition was inspiring to both young and old and this year’s will be no different.”